WEDNESDAY 3/17
Shen Yun
The Paramount presents a colorful version of Chinese history.
Alive Films
Kris Kristofferson in Trouble in Mind.
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St. Patrick's Day: In Da Pub
People who take jabs at Kells, Fado, and F.X. McRory's for being St. Patrick's Day amateur hours (and hours, and hours) are the same as those who lament the existence of Pioneer Square. Nonsense—downtown drinkers need those sponges, though I prefer to avoid the spillage by heading north to Conor Byrne, you'll be well clear of the spill. Owned by three 30-something lads—66.6 percent of whom are 100 percent Irish—Conor's would celebrate St. Patty's Day anyway, but the recently completed installation of a new front entrance means that co-proprietor Diarmuid Cullen has placed a special order for a batch of Middleton Very Rare Irish Whiskey, which he'll sell at $35 a shot (sip it, don't rip it). Musical entertainment will be handled by Crumac (3–6 p.m.) and the Tallboys (9 p.m.–midnight), the new door will open at noon instead of 4, and Guinness will be poured into 20-ounce glasses on a day when most bars cheat with plastic. (21 and over.) Conor Byrne, 5140 Ballard Ave. N.W., 784-3640, conorbyrnepub.com. $10. Noon–2 a.m. MIKE SEELY
Books/Food: Looking for Levity
It took the success of Curb Your Enthusiasm to make Jeff Garlin a household name (well, among households that have HBO), and his serene counterweight to Larry David has also made them the best comic duo on television. But then there are the fat jokes, some of them cruel. Garlin's weight has gone up and down, and there's a tendency—see Oliver Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle, and John Candy—to ignore the pathos of the chubby sidekick Oh, look—he's stuffing his face! Hilarious, except when it's not. Garlin put food in the title of his sweet, little-seen 2006 rom-com I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With, and now he's written a comic memoir about the serious consequences of obesity: My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World (Simon & Schuster, $25). He suffered a stroke 10 years ago (go back and watch the first few episodes of Curb), and he admits to being a compulsive overeater. The book follows Garlin's efforts to curtail his diet, add exercise, and lessen his environmental impact. (He even attempts—gasp!—to ride the bus in L.A.) Yet as you'd expect in an account that includes a visit to Richard Simmons, the author pokes fun at the whole process. "I screw up so much on my journey," he says. Even so, you want him to succeed. Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Ave., 652-4255, townhallseattle.org. $5. 7:30 p.m. (Also: 7:30 p.m. Thurs. at Parlor Live Comedy Club in Bellevue.) BRIAN MILLER
THURSDAY 3/18
Stage: In Love With AM
When Justin Bond rose to cult status in the early '90s incarnating the boozy-songstress half of cabaret duo Kiki and Herb, he knew audiences took from his prickly gender-bending only whatever they could handle. "If they were, like, 'Oh, it's drag! Look at the big clown!,' and that's as deep as they wanted to go, well, that was there for them," he once told me. "Or if they wanted something that was funny, it was funny. If they wanted something that was a little bit more profound, if they wanted to go there, they could go there." A bit of advice: Go there with Bond; he'll lead you to unexpected raptures. In and out of drag in his Kiki-less, Herb-less new solo show Angels of the Morning: The Ladies of AM Radio, he celebrates the incantatory pull of popular music too often dismissed with easy irony. His deep, raging rattle of a voice shakes the kitsch off classics like the Carpenters' "Superstar," backed by a band that includes local heroes Kurt Bloch and Jim Sangster of the Young Fresh Fellows. And, yes, Bond remains an acid raconteur in Angels. He introduces "You're So Vain" with this thought: "Ladies and gentlemen, when a narcissist falls in love with you, you feel really special." The Triple Door, 216 Union St., 838-4333, thetripledoor.net. $22–$25. 8 p.m. STEVE WIECKING
Dance: Fresh Demands
Peter Boal has been expanding Pacific Northwest Ballet's repertory since he got here five years ago, and one of the first additions he made was Ulysses Dove's visceral 1994 Red Angels. For this revival, part of a program called 3 by Dove, a quartet of scarlet-clad dancers will take their cues from solo violinist Mary Rowell. Boal has since added Vespers (1986), based on female family members recollected by the late choreographer (1947–96). Dove's legacy in contemporary dance is the sheer physicality of his material, and tonight's PNB premiere, the 1992 Serious Pleasures, is subtitled "the merciless battle between spirit and flesh"—battle being the key word and an indicator of its demands on the dancers. Thematically, as in flesh, the piece looks back to the dawning AIDS epidemic in the '80s. Also on the bill ("for mature audiences," according to PNB): a hip-hop/ballet hybrid by rising young L.A. choreographer Victor Quijada, who claims Dove as an influence. Commissioned by Boal in 2006, Suspension of Disbelief promises to push PNB's hyper-skilled dancers outside traditional boundaries—a little farther from Balanchine, a little closer to the barrio. (Ends March 28.) McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., 441-2424, pnb.org. $25–$160. 7:30 p.m. SANDRA KURTZ
